Being responsive to the public racial disparity and tension regarding the police and Black communities as colleagues have been impacted by these events, have different experiences and perspectives, and aim to have productive conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion at Maximus.

In the summer of 2020 a company-wide Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DE&I) webinar conversation was facilitated by Brook Graham Consulting and featured Bruce Caswell our Chief Executive Officer and Michelle Link our Chief Human Resources officer. The topic addressed came out of survey feedback from colleagues. As a result of this conversation, there was a social justice donation drive of $156,407 given to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) and an ongoing partnership. Dr. Arvenita Washington Cherry was hired as our Senior Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to build a comprehensive DE&I strategy for our company, and we have trained 14 internal facilitators and hosted eleven listening sessions of 30 colleagues and 15 focus groups. We have purchased dedicated unconscious bias training which will be provided to people managers and above across Maximus. We have also developed an internal website that shares our vision for the DE&I work, definitions, frequently asked questions, a platform for Community Conversations on DE&I topics, and other resources, and archives our monthly cultural recognition and provided information for how colleagues can get involved. 

We have developed the beginning of a diversity, equity, and inclusion frame to support how we lead in the work we do to serve our clients, how we learn, work, and grow together internally, and we closely examine our internal policies, practices, and processes for more equitable results that are transformative and sustainable.